Twitter Christmas Party

I told you I had an amazing story to tell and here it is:

At the end of October there was a twitter action where people could send in wishes. A tweep (@merleboudine ) had a wish to organise a Christmasparty/dinner for poor familes. Her wish was chosen and that meant a lot of organising, finding sponsors, volunteers and above all: a location.
The challenge was to get it done within 10 weeks.

It took a month before a location was provided, Seats2Meet in Maarssen offered their location for the Twitter Christmas Party. Then it was a month of asking, retweeting and more. Even in the few days before the Party (23rd of December) things like drinks, food etc were organised. I will not name all the sponsors in this English blog, they will appear in the Dutch version.

As a volunteer I was supposed to be on the location at 11:00 hrs so I took the 09:46 hrs train from my hometown and arrived in time at the location. There we started preparations like setting up Christmas trees, wrapping gifts for the kids, making crates with vegetables and fruit ready for the families en X-mas packages and another crew was busy in the kitchen with preparation for the the Christmas dinner.

It was amazing to see how a group of people put everything they had in them to give those families an unforgettable experience.

And then it was time for the families to arrive. They had to walk over a red carpet between 2 Christmas trees and were greeted with champagne in the lobby of the location.

After that they came into a large room where the children could sit at a largetable where they could draw or they could watch a movie. For the grown ups there was coffee, wine, beer and soft drinks. There were also little things to eat, appetizers.
Already then you saw happy smiling faces, but also amazement. The families clearly hadn't expected this. But there was more to come: Christmas dinner!


Dinner was served in buffer format and was really something. With live music and even a storyteller with a Christmas story. The first tears of joy were visible and more came when the dessert was served. In style, the light went out and dessert came in with flickering stars. That was turned into a buffet also.

After dinner some speeches, applause for @merleboudine, and justified, she had done something remarkable, amzing and beautiful!!!

For the families it wasn't over when they left. Before they left the building to return home they got a Christmas package, a sorts of goodie bag and a crate full of vegetables and fruit. And also a Christmas bread, don't know if you are familiar with that in the US, but it is a sweet breas with nuts, raisins and almond paste. Plus a pork roast and pudding.

Still, a week later on twitter people who were there are talking about the twitterchristmasparty and I have to say, sedomly I have experienced so much warmth and happiness!

Onder de indruk

Bijna 48 uur later
En nog steeds onder de indruk
Onder de indruk van jou
Ik snap het zelf ook niet zo goed
Normaal duurt dat bij mij wel wat langer
Maar als ik mijn ogen dicht doe
Zie ik je voor me
Hoor ik je stem
Ik vind het wel gek
Eigenlijk helemaal niet verwacht
Op dat moment
Op die plek
Maar zo zie je maar
Zoiets gebeurt juist
Als je het niet verwacht
En ben ik dus nog steeds
Onder de indruk
Ook na meer dan 48 uur.

Missen

Missen

Ik mis je

Ik mis de hartelijke begroetingen

De opgetrokken knieën als we kletsten

Ten teken dat jij je op je gemak voelde

Het samen koffie drinken en naar muziek luisteren

De blijdschap binnen in me als ik wist dat

Ik je ging spreken en zien

Jouw glimlach als je me weer zag

De stiltes die nooit pijnlijk waren

Ik mis dat jij minuten lang naar me

Keek zonder iets te zeggen

En dan vroeg: ik mag toch wel naar je kijken

En tuurlijk mocht jij dat

Ik was het alleen niet gewend

Sharona, ik mis je en ik hoop

Dat ik nog een teken van leven van je krijg.